History Main / DramaticAlienVTOL

* ''{{ET}}'' 's finally going home. The music swells, the bright lights of his egg shaped spacecraft bath him in an orange aura and after the ramp pulls in, it lifts off.

* It happens in the original ''{{Stargate}}'' movie when Ra's ship descends on the pyramid. You see them use the pyramid as a landing pad which means the ship must be something that plants itself [[AncientAstronauts on a pyramid]] and uses [[ThatsNoMoon something that big]] as a landing pad.

* The pilot of ''{{Alf}}''.

* A reverse example in the Russian film ''It's Hard to Be a God'' based on a novel by the StrugatskyBrothers, where a climactic battle on a planet of primitive HumanAliens is stopped by everyone dropping to their knees, watching a descending human spaceship, lights an everything.

-> This spaceship takes off really slowly. It's a little awkward

-->Poochie: (with Roger Meyers Jr.'s voice): I have to go now. My planet needs me! (Poochie's cel is immedieately pulled off the screen, followed by a title card saying "Note: Poochie died on his way back to his home planet")

* Also happens in ''BackToTheFutureII'', although it was the flying time machine instead of an alien craft that time.

** Also used in the episode "Thor's Chariot." SG-1 has just been captured by Jaffa on an Asguard protected planet and are being escorted to certain doom when a perfectly clear day suddenly becomes dark and stormy and, as everyone watches in awe (and fear, in the case of the Jaffa), an Asguard mothership appears and begins scooping the Jaffa up in seconds. Thus Thor not only shows off his [[CoolShip incredibly powerful ship]], [[BigDamnHeroes but saves the day as well]].

* ''{{Dynasty}}'' spin-off ''The Colbys'' (of all things) attempted one of these, but it was total {{Narm}}.

Very much related to PowerFloats.

* ''Dynasty'' spin-off ''The Colbys'' (of all things) attempted one of these, but it was total {{Narm}}.

The sense of awe is often added to by the craft being of a very unplane like design. It will be [[BigDumbObject unfeasibly massive]] or perhaps a SpheroidDropship. It will also possible be the most expensive visual effects shot in the movie.

The sense of awe is often added to by the craft being of a very unplane like design. It will be unfeasibly massive or perhaps a SpheroidDropship. It will also possible be the most expensive visual effects shot in the movie.

Very much related to PowerFloats.

A highlight of many movies, a point where the score, pacing and cinematography will often gang up and try to underscore the drama of the moment, is the DramaticAlienVTOL where we see an alien spaceship, like a chariot of the gods ascending or descending from heaven, make a Vertical Take-Off or Landing. It will fill the screen as the music swells and slowly take time to hover so that the camera can take {{Reaction Shot}}s of amazed onlookers. Sometimes there is some kind of added enviromental effect like water shaking, the wind blowing or radio signal static. You might not be able to make out the shape properly due to all the bright lights.

* The alien motherships in ''IndependenceDay'' are [[TakeMeToYourLeader mistaken for this]] when they hover giant energy beams over [[MonumentalDamage strategic buildings]] across the world.

* Spielberg did a lot to help make this trope. The climax of ''CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' has the ship come in first, just as the bright lights at first with the shadow of the FlyingSaucer shape eventually becoming clearer as the three notes we've heard through the movie comes through the score. It lands and then the ramp opens and again a crack of light and then the shadows of the aliens themselves, stamping the image of the Greys, in their first appearance on film, in our heads.

* {{ET}}'s finally going home. The music swells, the bright lights of his egg shaped spacecraft bath him in an orange aura and after the ramp pulls in, it lifts off.
* In fact Spielberg did a lot of help make this trope. The climax of CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind has the ship come in first, just as the bright lights at first with the shadow of the FlyingSaucer shape eventually becoming clearer as the three notes we've heard through the movie comes through the score. It lands and then the ramp opens and again a crack of light and then the shadows of the aliens themselves, stamping the image of the Greys, in their first appearance on film, in our heads.

* In the episode ''Wormhole X-Treme'' in {{Stargate SG-1}}, the episode ends on this, with it forming the ending shot of the ShowWithinTheShow as well and with two techies lampshading the fact that it would be the money shot and the most lavish technical effect, likely to get a SFX Emmy. The ascending spacecraft itself, is genuinely impressive (which is part of why the lampshading works so well) with a shape more like a castle than anything aerodynamic, and the exhaust blowing a wind across the sands of the set.

* The giant craft in ''{{District 9}}'' subverts this with a ''permanent, stationary'' DramaticAlienVTOL stuck in neutral [[SceneryGorn over Johannesburg]] due to quarantine of the alien refugees aboard. [[FridgeLogic Oddly]], there are no human attempts to hang ladders off it or tow it away.

* The giant craft in {{District 9}} subverts this trope with a ''permanent, stationary'' DramaticAlienVTOL [[SceneryGorn stuck in neutral over Johannesburg]] due to quarantine of the alien refugees aboard. [[FridgeLogic Oddly]], there are no human attempts to hang ladders off it or tow it away.

* The giant craft in {{District 9}} subverts this trope with a ''permanent, stationary'' DramaticAlienVTOL [[SceneryGorn stuck in neutral over Johannesburg]] due to quarantine of the alien refugees aboard.

* The [[HumanAlien Vulcan]] ship in ''{{Star Trek: First Contact}}'' descends in the middle of the night, its landing lights illuminating the awed faces of the humans.

* A reverse example in the Russian film ''{{It's Hard to Be a God}}'' based on a novel by the StrugatskiBrothers, where a climactic battle on a planet of primitive HumanAliens is stopped by everyone dropping to their knees, watching a descending human spaceship, lights an everything.